October Avocados: When Are They Ripe?

If you have an avocado tree in your back yard, you are probably wondering if it’s time to pick those beautiful avocados. After all, they’re getting so big! But wait: avocados need to be mature enough to ripen after they are picked. Please don’t pick your new crop of avocados yet! Today I’m going to share about how avocados mature and ripen here on our avocado ranch in Southern California.

October in the Avocado Groves

While much of the United States is cooling off and enjoying fall colors, Southern California is experiencing some of the warmest weather of the year. September and October can be our hottest months, and the avocado trees need plenty of water to stay healthy until the weather cools off again.

Who Wants Hard Avocados?

The baby avocados that set last April and May are so big now that it’s tempting to start picking. I hope none of my readers are picking their new crop of avocados yet…they aren’t mature enough and won’t soften! Avocados need plenty of time to develop the natural oil in the fruit. Oil content is what gives avocados their wonderful flavor, and it’s the oil content that allows the fruit to soften up after it is picked from the tree.

If we pick the avocados now, they will be hard and rubbery, and won’t soften up. Water, fertilizer, and the tender loving care it takes to grow those gorgeous avocados will be wasted! We want avocados that will be perfectly ripe and ready to eat, so we need to wait until they are mature and have the correct oil content in the flesh. After December, the avocados will soften beautifully. During the following months the full flavor of the avocados will develop, and around April or May that amazing flavor will approach its peak. As the oil content increases over the season, the avocado becomes more buttery.

Give the Trees More Water When It’s Hot

When the trees don’t get enough water during a heat spell, the roots begin to pull salts from the soil up into the tree, and the tips of the leaves turn brown. It’s not the end of the world when this happens, but it’s much better to make sure the tree gets enough water. When the weather gets hot, the trees need to be watered more often. In this photo you can see the rich green healthy leaves that have grown since the older leaves became “tip-burned”.

As the avocados grow bigger and heavier, the branches of the trees can sometimes break off. It’s a tragedy when this happens before the avocados are mature enough to eat. Since the oil content in the avocados is not high enough, none of the avocados will soften so they are wasted. There isn’t anything to do with a hard, immature avocado. They just aren’t edible yet.

As the fruit gets bigger, branches can break under the weight of the avocados. Wooden supports can protect the tree and the crop while the fruit is still sizing up.

Avocado Trees Need A Little Support

During years when the trees are loaded with large fruit, it’s a good idea to place wooden supports under the branches to help them with that heavy load. The new avocados will begin to have enough oil content in mid-December, so we want them to hang on the trees for several more months at least. The State of California will determine the dates when various sizes and varieties of avocados will be officially ready to harvest. The dates will be decided after avocados are tested to make sure that the oil content is high enough for the fruit to ripen and be edible.

October Spiders

Once the avocados are mature enough to be picked, we can prune back the trees. During this time of year it’s fun to take walks through the grove because there are plenty of beautiful avocado hanging from the trees. That’s not all that’s hanging in the trees either! In October we have lots and lots of spiders! They build their enormous web between the trees, and ‘hang out’ to catch insects. Most of these spiders are not poisonous, but they can bite. During October it’s a good idea to carry a long stick to catch the spider webs before you walk into one because they’re a difficult to see if you aren’t really looking for them. We’re glad to have the spiders, because they help to keep nature in balance in the avocado groves.

Chinese Flame Tree

As a native Vermonter I really miss the changing seasons, especially during October. One of the trees that helps with my homesickness a little is the Chinese Flame Tree. During October the the bright gold colored blossoms begin to appear, and over the next month or so they tree will become bright orange as the seed pods develop.

We have one large Chines Flame Tree that was given to us by a friend who has since died. It was just a baby tree in a pot when he brought it to us, but has grown to a magnificent size. The yellow flowers are beginning to fall onto the ground, and soon those pink/red seed pods will appear. The shade of this huge Chinese Flame tree blocks the sun from avocado trees near it, but I won’t let The Farmer cut it down. I love this gorgeous tree. It’s not the same as Vermont maple trees, but it’s something for me to watch and enjoy during the fall months here on the ranch.

Let’s Plan a Moon Party!

Speaking of shade, did you see the eclipse of the moon last weekend? The Farmer and I sat outside for 2 hours watching the whole show! It was a warm, balmy night here on the ranch, and an unforgettable experience. If I had known just how beautiful it would be I might have invited a few friends over to enjoy a Moon Party! When it the next eclipse of the moon? For sure we should plan a party!

October is the month when the last of the 2015 avocados are being harvested and the new crop for 2016 is beginning to size up. We just have to keep the irrigation going during these hot months, and wait for the new avocados to have enough oil content to be mature enough for harvest. I’ll be going out for another walk now; wearing a big hat and trying to walk in the shade where it’s cooler!

If you have any questions about avocados, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or question here!

13 Comments

I envy all who will be picking their avocados this year. I have a dwarf ,I think is a fuerte avocado. I’ts 4 years old tree ,but i haven’t had any avocados yet this year. The tree is beautiful and growing lots of new growth. This must not be my year. Last year I had picked 15 avocados.—-Don Farrell

Mimi, thanks for the information! Hope you are still planning to make an avocado cycle post to help us figure out when to buy them too! Most of the time I’m just excited if I actually cut open the avocados when they are ripe vs too brown vs too hard. 🙂Lynn @ Oh-So Yummy recently posted..Golden Island Jerky review

I have a large, tall Feurte tree in my front yard…in Sylmar, San Fernando Valley. Grown from a pit, it did not produce for MANY years until I was advised to drive a couple of nails into the trunk. After I did that, that season last year I got a couple of dozen. This year I have several hundred fruits. I was glad to see your comment about the weight of avocados causing branches to break, letting me know my problem was not unique. Last week a 5″ vertical branch with many horizontal branches snapped and came down. It had about 100 avocados that came down with it. Most were 14-16 oz each. My question is, should I prune back and down after the harvest season? The tree is about 20′ tall and 15′ wide. The main trunk is 12″ with a split at 5′ into two 8″ verticals. I am considering “topping” it at 12′-15′ (Black & Decker chainsaw on a 10′ pole) and bringing in the horizontal branches to 6′-8′ from center. Is this proper? Do you have any advice? We do get fairly heavy crosswinds, including Santa Ana winds.

I have dreams of a having an avocado tree that will bear fruit ever since I was a little child, LOL! A couple of years ago we went to visit our friend in SoCal, near Carlsbad/Alviso and his home is situated on a former avocado orchard. He still has some trees and let us pick some of his avocado. They are the best avocados ever, butter and soft, they don’t spoil quickly, and one of the avocados had a pit that was split and I’m still nurturing that seedling after 2 years. Not sure what to do next, I’m thinking I should plant it in the ground. Thank you for sharing your growing advice. Hopefully I’ll be back to try some recipes soon! 😉Sharon (Nut Free Wok) recently posted..Introducing Kiss Freely: It’s All About Love

We just moved and purchased a house with 2 Haas avacado trees, a huge Fuerte tree and another huge tree that I thought was Fuerte and now I’m not sure.

I am a little confused about when to pick the avocados. We have only lived here 3 months and have no prior experience with avacado trees. I read in you articles that Fuertes are legally ready to harvest. But in this article you said it’s good to wait until at least December to pick, but then I was confused by the sentence that said the last of 2015 avacado are harvested in October.

Anyway, i don’t know if my avacado a are 2015 or 2016 avacado a. The Fuertes are huge! Can you give me a timeline of how avacado maturing and harvesting works?

Our Fuerte avocados are tasting good right now and we are harvesting the big ones. You should be fine to pick yours, as any Fuertes from last year have surely fallen off the tree by now!

Hass and Reed avocados can hang on the trees into October some years. This year all the avocados were ahead of schedule. Reeds are a summer variety and they are finished now. The ones hanging on the tree won’t be ready until next summer. Hass avocados will be released in December. You can do a Google search for “Calfornia Avocado release dates” and find out the sizes and the days they are released. (this is only for picking commercially, but it’s still a good guideline for knowing when they are ready)

Hass avocados will have more flavor in March/April/May/June than right now. I would eat those Fuertes and leave the Hass for later.

I have a small hass tree 2yrs old it’s December and I have a lot of blossoms I think I see 1 tiny avocado forming I’m really exited I call them my great grandchildren I really enjoyed your articles on avocados can’t wait form more info

so glad I found this page. We just purchase a very large lot here in Orange County and are excited to plant some avocados trees, we want to have avocados as close to year round as possible, so can you tell us which varieties to plant to achieve this? Thank you

Avocado trees are so dependent on the weather and the amount of water and nutrients they get, it’s hard to say for sure whether you will actually have avocados year round. Hass avocados have a really long season: from December to late summer. Fuerte avocados are so delicious and special, you will definitely want one of those. They are in season from Dec to March. Summer brings Reed avocados…so creamy! There are several other varieties that we have planted just recently, but we won’t know first hand about the fruit for 2-3 years. Farmers in the Central Valley are trying to grow Gem avocados because they might be able to bring them to market in Oct/Nov when California often has no avocados in season. That doesn’t mean that they’ll be ready in southern California during those months though. Take a look at this page from Brokaw Nursery, where we buy our avocado trees. (Usually must be ordered 1-2 years in advance.)